A Roman Catholic Priest Guilty of Child Sex Abuse

A Roman Catholic priest in Canada has been found guilt of 24 counts of sex abuse charges against him.

The Justice who is in charge of the case, Justice Robert Kilpatrick, said the time gap between the alleged assaults and the trial had weakened the case.

Eric Dejaeger who has already pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual assault dating back to 30 years ago,he was found guilty of raping dozens of children and a dog in the Canadian Arctic, where he formerly worked as missionary. He was arrested and returned to Canada by Belgian authorities in January 2011 on immigration charges.

Many victims told the court that Dejaeger used his position as a missionary to lure and trap them, and he threaten them with hellfire if they told their families or any other person, even their friends.

The Vatican has repeatedly been criticized for the manner and approach of its handling of Catholic priest guilty of sex abuse cases.

The former priest was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail for the same sexual assault of eight children.